Have you ever made your own homemade tortillas before? It might sound intimidating, but they’re actually super simple to make with just five basic ingredients.

How to Make Flour Tortillas without Lard

Corn tortillas may be the “original,” but I have to admit that I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for flour tortillas. And while traditional flour tortillas are made with lard, I realize that most of you probably don’t keep that ingredient on hand or perhaps prefer not to use it. I usually make my flour tortillas with butter, but vegetable shortening will also work. Aside from your fat of choice, all you’ll need is flour, salt, baking powder, and water. It always amazes me that such simple ingredients can yield such yummy results!

How to Make Flour Tortillas

As I do with many of my favorite recipes — from pie crust to shortbread to scones — I rely on my trusty food processor to effortlessly whip out these Homemade Flour Tortillas. However, don’t let that stop you from making them if you don’t have a food processor…you can certainly throw them together by hand! It’s just a matter of blending the ingredients and kneading the dough.

Then comes the trickiest part (at least for me)…rolling. The rolling in itself is not challenging, mind you. The aspect I have a hard time with is rolling my tortillas into actual, round-ish circles. However, I will say that this endeavor gets easier with practice. I will also share that if your tortilla ends up with a random, Florida-shaped appendage, you have my permission to trim it off with a knife (and nobody will ever be the wiser!). But if you choose to leave it, I can assure you that nobody has ever turned down a soft, warm, fresh-from-the-skillet flour tortilla due to the fact that it wasn’t perfectly symmetrical. 😉

While you’re working on achieving your circular tortillas, the only variable you’ll need to worry about has to do with how thin or thick you prefer them. This recipe will yield a dozen very thin flour tortillas, about 10 average tortillas, or about 8 thick ones. How thin you roll your tortillas will also determine how long you’ll need to cook them on each side so that they remain soft but aren’t too doughy on the inside.

Basically, flour tortillas are pretty darn easy to make. But the first time you attempt them, you will probably need to experiment just a bit to figure out the right temperature and cooking time based on your stove. I cook my tortillas in a big stainless steel skillet. However, you can use cast iron or even nonstick if you prefer. And when I make tortillas, I typically double this recipe, because it takes only slightly longer to whip up twice as many tortillas once the food processor is already dirtied up.

Can You Freeze Flour Tortillas?

If you’d like to make homemade flour tortillas in bulk for future use, they actually freeze really well. That being said, it’s important to separate each flour tortilla with a piece of wax paper or foil so that they don’t freeze together in one big lump. Once separated, tightly wrap the stack of tortillas in foil and then place in a freezer-thickness plastic baggie. Freeze for up to six months.

To thaw, pop the bag into the fridge for a day or two. You can also reheat your tortillas before serving. Simply place a few of them on a plate, cover with a damp paper towel, and microwave for 2o to 30 seconds. Or place individual tortillas in a warm pan for a few seconds, flipping with tongs.

So who’s ready for some Easy Homemade Flour Tortilla making??? Whether you’ve got tacos or burritos on the menu, or whether you simply plan to slather your tortillas with butter or dip them in salsa, you can’t go wrong. I hope these are a hit with your crew! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a stack of warm tortillas and a vat of queso calling… 😉

Helpful Tips & Tricks

If you prefer, you may substitute the butter with lard or vegetable shortening.

You may make this recipe by hand instead of using a food processor. Mix in the butter with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Then slowly stir in the water. Knead on a lightly floured surface until a smooth and elastic dough is formed.

For thinner tortillas, divide dough into 12 balls. For thicker tortillas, divide it into 8 balls.

To roll tortillas into a round-ish shape, roll flattened ball of dough in one direction from the center to the top edge. Turn the dough a quarter turn and roll again from the center to the top. Repeat rolling and turning until tortilla is to desired size and shape.

Do not stack rolled tortillas while waiting to cook them or they may become soggy.

Before cooking a rolled out tortilla, toss it back and forth a bit between your hands to knock off any excess flour.

If flour does start to accumulate in your pan it will burn, so be sure to carefully wipe flour out of pan between cooking tortillas.

Slightly increase the heat if a tortilla doesn’t have golden spots after 1 minute. However, decrease the heat if the spots are dark brown or black.

Watch the video below to see exactly how to make flour tortillas!

Flour Tortilla Recipe

Easy Homemade Flour Tortillas

Soft, tender Homemade Flour Tortillas are deliciously versatile and surprisingly easy to make with just a few simple ingredients!

Ingredients

2cupsall-purpose flour

1teaspoonbaking powder

½teaspoonsalt

1tablespoonunsalted butter, softened

¾cuplukewarm water

Instructions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Transfer to the bowl of a large food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal (about 15 1-second pulses). With the food processor running, slowly stream in the warm water.

Process until the dough forms a rough ball.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 1 minute until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces and roll into balls. Cover dough balls with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Heat a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. While skillet is heating, roll tortillas into 7- to 8-inch diameter circles, using a bit of flour to prevent sticking. Place a tortilla into hot skillet and cook until it bubbles up a bit and light brown spots form on the underside, anywhere from 10 to 60 seconds depending on how hot your pan is and how thick your tortillas are. Flip tortilla and cook until second side is done. Repeat until all tortillas are cooked.

Serve immediately or store in a tightly covered container. To reheat, stack on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave for 15 to 30 seconds or until warm.

Notes

If you prefer, you may substitute the butter with lard or vegetable shortening.

You may make this recipe by hand instead of using a food processor. Mix in the butter with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles cornmeal, and then slowly stir in the water. Knead on a lightly floured surface until a smooth and elastic dough is formed.

For thinner tortillas, divide dough into 12 balls. For thicker tortillas, divide it into 8 balls.

To roll tortillas into a round-ish shape, roll flattened ball of dough in one direction from the center to the top edge. Turn the dough a quarter turn and roll again from the center to the top. Repeat rolling and turning until tortilla is to desired size and shape.

Do not stack rolled tortillas while waiting to cook them or they may become soggy.

Before cooking a rolled out tortilla, toss it back and forth a bit between your hands to knock off any excess flour.

If flour does start to accumulate in your pan it will burn, so be sure to carefully wipe flour out of pan between cooking tortillas.

If tortilla doesn't have golden spots after 1 minute, slightly increase heat. If the spots are dark brown or black, decrease heat.

Adapted from AllRecipes. This recipe was originally shared at Lil’ Luna in March 2015 and then published here on May 3, 2015.

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Comments

This is great! I’m pinning this because I’ve been thinking about make our own lately. With a husband that only makes quesadillas when he’s on for a meal, we go through quite a few. Any idea if they come out similar with other flours?

Hi Kristin! I’ve made these tortillas with white whole wheat flour (the kind that’s 100% whole wheat but ground with white wheat instead of red wheat) and they turn out well. I haven’t done too much experimenting with other flours, though! I hope you’ll come back and share the results if you decide to try some other variations. 🙂

Hi Steph! I’ve made these tortillas 100% whole wheat by making them with white whole wheat flour (which is 100% whole wheat but lighter in flavor and texture than regular whole wheat flour, which is made with red wheat). I used the same amount of white whole wheat flour as indicated in the recipe. Hope that helps…enjoy!

These were so easy to make and absolutely delicious! I made some thick, some thin, and rolled them out to large and small as well. I’ve made fish tacos and korean tacos with these. So much better than store-bought. Thank you for sharing!

Hi Amy! Yes, these tortillas freeze beautifully! I freeze them in a freezer-thickness, gallon-sized baggie with a sheet of parchment paper (or wax paper, or foil) between each one so that they don’t stick together. 🙂

Hi Staci! You can definitely freeze extra tortillas! I’d recommend putting a sheet of something between each tortilla — wax paper, parchment paper, foil, etc. — to prevent them from sticking together. Then put the stack in a freezer-thickness gallon-sized plastic bag and pop in the freezer. 🙂

These tortillas never last more than a day or two around here! But they should hold up in the fridge for about a week. You may want to lay a little piece of parchment paper or foil between them to prevent them from sticking together, and then you’ll want to reheat them as described in the recipe. 🙂

I’m sorry to hear that, MP. The dough definitely shouldn’t have been crumbly or flimsy if you followed the recipe. Lots of other folks have had success with the recipe, so I’m not sure what happened either. 🙁

I tried these it’s a very easy dough to make all came together very quickly, I used my mix master to instead of a food processor. Just need to work on rolling out the dough I made more of a square I feel like it will be easier to roll ingredients up.thanks for sharing recipe

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Hi, I’m Samantha . . .

a busy wife and tired mama of two energetic boys and a sweet little girl living in Texas. I love cooking, writing, eating queso, watching college football, and taking way too many pics of my kids. In my “spare” time, I run this food blog and I wrote a cookbook. The days are crazy but the love is plenty between the five hearts that make up our home! (click for more)